bearing unfavorable and unjust legislation and the creation of discord amongst the workers of the land and of the sea: We therefore

Resolve, That an appeal for the support of all organized labor be broadcast the length and breadth of the land, as effectively as our defamers are now doing; and be it further

Resolved, That we appeal to all organized labor, regardless of craft or affiliation, to boycott the March of Time and the Time Magazine as being unjust and unfair to the American seamen and the National Maritime Union, and to the interests of organized labor at large; and be it further

Resolved, That this resolution be sent to the March of Time and the Time Magazine; to all labor organizations; to all civic bodies engaged in the uplift and progress of humanity; to the Marine Federation of the Pacific; to the International Longshoremen's Union; to the United Longshoremen and Dock Workers Union; to the Committee of Industrial Organization, Washington, D. C.; to the Motion Picture Operators' Association; and to be published in the official organ of the National Maritime Union, the Pilot; to be published in the official organ of the West Coast Marine Unions, the Voice of the Federation.

NEW ORLEANS BRANCH, NATIONAL MARITIME UNION OF AMERICA.

The foregoing instances mentioned here, coupled with the intense. propaganda campaign that has been carried on by the paid press, frequently here in Washington, will show you clearly the immense objects that are placed in our way and which include misrepresentation and distortion of facts.

Senator VANDENBERG. We have had considerable testimony to the effect that members of crews of American ships which are in foreign ports have become intoxicated and have been placed under arrest, and that when the sailing time of the ship arrived the captain was not permitted to leave the dock, because à delegate insisted that he could not leave until all of those men were aboard ship.

Would you believe that anything of that sort has happened?

Mr. EMERSON. Of course, it is possible, but I do not know of any specific instance. If there was such, that delegate should be brought to task by his particular union. The ship should sail on time.

Senator VANDENBERG. You would not approve that use of a delegate's power?

Mr. EMERSON. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Proceed, Mr. Emerson.

Mr. EMERSON. Naturally, we cannot hold up ships for no good or legitimate reason whatsoever. If there have been instances like that, we wish them to be brought to the attention of union headquarters, so that we can deal with them.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have delegates on board ships?

Mr. EMERSON. They are voluntary delegates; they receive no salary. They have been a great help in a number of cases, because when they see something wrong-for example, when they see a window broken or a porthole where water is coming in-they report it. We have had a lot of repair work done and also conditions reported with regard to food.

The CHAIRMAN. Do they issue orders to the captain?

Mr. EMERSON. I hope not.
The CHAIRMAN. Do they?
Mr. EMERSON. Sir?

The CHAIRMAN. Do they?

Mr. EMERSON. We would like, also, to have specific instances of that, because we say that at sea the captain is in command of his vessel, and there is no foregoing his commands. That would be mutiny.

The CHAIRMAN. That is the proper position for you to take. Is that what actually happens at present?

Mr. EMERSON. Yes, sir.

Senator GIBSON. Do they receive from your headquarters any orders to give directions to the captain?

Mr. EMERSON. No, sir; they are supposed to take the orders from the master.

The only thing that happens as regards a delegate at sea is this: Take on a ship like the Manhattan or Washington, about halfway across, on some particular night, the chief steward assigns the tourist dining room to thein, and they hold a union meeting at night, attended by officers and members of the crew. They discuss problems. Senator GIBSON. Do they vote?

Mr. EMERSON. Vote?

Senator GIBSON. Yes.

Mr. EMERSON. They vote on various resolutions, and things, and they send those resolutions to Washington.

Senator GIBSON. Where do they send them in Washington?

Mr. EMERSON. They send them to the Senate Commerce Committee or to the House Merchant Marine Committee.

Senator GIBSON. Do we have any of those, Mr. Chairman?
The CHAIRMAN. I think so.

Mr. EMERSON. I shall come to an instance of that in a moment. The CHAIRMAN. I am more interested to know what these men do on ship.

Mr. EMERSON. They work on their particular jobs, and anything they do like that is on their own time. The only thing they are there for, so far as the union is concerned, is to see that every part of the ship is run properly, so far as unlicensed personnel is concerned. If we did not have those people settling petty arguments, there would be all kinds of arguments going on between the union and the steamship companies.

The CHAIRMAN. You are the influential shore representative of this union?

Mr. EMERSON. Sir?

The CHAIRMAN. I say, you are the influential shore representative of the union, and you say the master should be the master, according to the tradition of the sea and the law of the United States?

Mr. EMERSON. That is right. Of course, there have been times when the masters have been at fault.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you had knowledge of when the sailors have been at fault?

Mr. EMERSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think the sailors respond to the masters' orders with regard to cleanliness of toilet facilities and quarters aboard ship?

Mr. EMERSON. If it is their duty to do it; but if the steamship company is too mean to put the required number of crew on to take care of it, I do not see where it is the sailors' duty or others' duty to do it. For instance, I would not want to see a waiter go in and do it and then wait on passengers.

The CHAIRMAN. Then what should be done?

Mr. EMERSON. The procedure is that the ship's delegate makes a note of those things. When the ship docks at its home port in the United States, the shore delegate contacts the ship's delegate. The

shore delegate takes it up either with the company's representative or through union headquarters.

The CHAIRMAN. Does the ship's delegate make any representation to the captain on board ship?

Mr. EMERSON. Yes, sir; of course, if he finds something wrong; and most of the time all those little wrongs are corrected and get no further. We find a great many captains cooperate with us. The captains sometimes would like to have the things reported, but the company does not.

Senator VANDENBERG. You said something to the effect that sometimes the captain is wrong, and that is probably so. Does that make any difference while the ship is at sea?

Mr. EMERSON. Not a bit.

Senator VANDENBERG. Right or wrong, he is captain?

Mr. EMERSON. Yes. If he is wrong, he suffers the consequences. Senator GIBSON. What do you mean by that?

Mr. EMERSON. He is brought up before an official body, perhaps, and his license revoked.

Senator VANDENBURG. Suppose that when the delegates get ashore they report that the captain has been unsatisfactory in dealing with union complaints while he has been at sea. Would it be possible for the union to order its men not to ship again on a ship mastered by that captain?

Mr. EMERSON. Well, when you speak about the union ordering its men, the men are the union; they might not want to ship.

Senator VANDERBURG. But there would have to be a concerted action, would there not?

Mr. EMERSON. No; not necessarily.

Senator VANDERBURG. Is there ever any concerted action of that sort?

Mr. EMERSON. No; not that I know of. We will take the case of the Algic, in Baltimore. Even after everything that had happened, the company called us up for a crew, and we put another crew on and sailed her out.

The CHAIRMAN. You do not think the decision in the "Algic" case facilitated your action?

Mr. EMERSON. No; the decision is just as bad the way it stands as if they had got a hundred years.

The CHAIRMAN. All right.

Mr. EMERSON. Next, I should like to submit for the record a few of the many protests we have received from unions and crews of ships. against the enactment of the bill S. 3078 in its present form.

The first thing which I wish to read to you is a resolution adopted by the Pacific Coast Marine Firemen, Oilers, Watertenders, and Wipers' Association, with headquarters at San Francisco, Calif. This was sent me by Mr. R. J. Fitzgerald, secretary pro tem of the association, on December 23, 1937. It reads:

RESOLUTION

Whereas the maritime workers, through organization and collective bargaining, hope to establish an American standard of living aboard American ships; and Whereas the shipowners, through lobbyists in Washington and a malicious publicity campaign in the conservative press, have sought to put the maritime unions in ill repute before the American public; and

Whereas Senator Copeland and his cohort, Rep. Bland, have introduced into Congress certain bills designed to throttle the maritime labor movement; and

Whereas these bills, amongst other things, call for compulsory arbitration as per the Railway Labor Act, which act has turned out to be so disastrous for the railroad brotherhood; and

Whereas these bills also call for the establishment of training schools, under the direct supervision of the Coast Guard, which set-up is especially designed to regiment young seamen and poison their minds against unionism; and

Whereas the Maritime Commission has declared itself in favor of these bills and also indirectly in favor of the establishment of a Maritime Commission with powers paralleling those of the British maritime trade unionism: Therefore be it Resolved, That we condemn bill S. 3078, introduced by Senator Copeland, and H. R. 8532, also amendment No. 1 to H. R. 8532, introduced by Rep. Bland, as being in direct opposition to the best interests of the maritime workers and demand that no congressional action be taken on these bills until such time as the maritime unions may be in a position to present their arguments against the objectionable features of such legislation; and be it further

Resolved, That a copy be sent to the national headquarters of labor's NonPartisan League, Washington, D. C., with a request that they assist in every way possible to defeat these bills. Also that copies be sent to Ralph Emerson, joint maritime legislative committee, Washington, D. C., to publishers of the Voice, C. I. O. Herald, and the N. M. U. Pilot; and be it finally

Resolved, That copies be sent to all branches for concurrence.

The CHAIRMAN. Do they object to the bill from beginning to end? Mr. EMERSON. The same objections are raised, as we are raising these. I hope that representatives of the Pacific coast will be here very shortly, for I should prefer to leave those details to them. The CHAIRMAN. Do you mean Mr. Lundeberg?

Mr. EMERSON. I believe he will be here tomorrow.
Senator GIBSON. Did he succeed Andrew Fureseth?

Mr. EMERSON. In the Pacific. Harry Lundeberg has succeeded in

a way.

Next I have a protest from the crew of the S. S. Cody.
The CHAIRMAN. Read it. What does it say?

Mr. EMERSON. It reads:

We, representing the crew of the S. S. Cody, hereby protest the proposed bill, namely, S. 3078.

F. J. CARLSTROM.
THOMAS COLLINS.
H. PRAETORIUS.

It is addressed to you, Senator Copeland. The CHAIRMAN. When I received that telegram, what was my thought about it? My thought necessarily was that you do not want that bill.

Mr. EMERSON. I will explain that later; but, at the same time, that was a general protest against the features affecting maritime labor in that bill. You must understand that there are some features in here that do not affect maritime labor. They should have qualified that statement.

Now, this is a telegram from our union headquarters in Buffalo, N. Y. It reads:

Hon. ROYAL S. COPELAND,

Chairman, Senate Commerce Committee, Washington, D. C.:

The membership of the National Maritime Union of America in Buffalo, N. Y., protest the proposed S. 3078, especially the parts referring to the building of ships in foreign yards, transferring registry of United States ships to foreign flags, permitting salaries of over twenty-five thousand dollars to officials of steamship companies and the setting up of boards of mediation and arbitration which will strangle the Maritime Workers of America.

RALPH ROGERS,

District Representative.

This is a telegram from the National Maritime Union at Houston, Tex.

The CHAIRMAN. What does that say?

Mr. EMERSON. It is addressed to me, at my office, room 402, 1627 K Street NW., and reads:

We seamen of the port of Houston urge to do your utmost to kill bill S. 3078 as it is quite obvious the harm it will do.

NATIONAL MARITIME UNION.

Here are copies of letters sent from the S. S. Muskogee to Congressmen Maury Maverick and Schuyler E. Bland, and to Senators Royal S. Copeland and R. M. La Follette, Jr., protesting the enact-ment of this legislation. Each one reads the same, so I shall just read from one of them:

Senator ROYAL S. COPELAND,

Washington, D. C.

S.S. "MUSKOGEE" AT SEA,
December 27, 1987.

DEAR SENATOR COPELAND: We the crew of the S. S. Muskogee, as American citizens, protest the passage of the proposed amendments to the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which were introduced by you on December 2, 1937, and which are incorporated in a bill known as S. 3078.

We strenuously object to the passage of any bill which tends to enslave the American seamen, and which robs them of the fundamental right to fight for better working conditions and living standards. Signed on behalf of the crew S. S. Muskogee.

G. WILKINSON,

Deck Delegate.

S. MICKNICZ,
Engine-room Delegate.

C. A. PILLING,

Steward Dept. Delegate.

Here is one I would like to bring particularly to your attention. It is from the S. S. President Harding, at sea, December 14, 1937. It reads as follows:

Mr. RALPH EMERSON,

Legislative Representative, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: On December 10, 1937, aboard the S. S. President Harding, 185 American citizens attempted to register a protest against two pieces of proposed legislation which are distinctly unfavorable to them. They are known as the Copeland Bill, S. 3078, and the Schuyler Bland bill, H. R. 8532. These bills came up for hearing on December 8, the day that this vessel sailed from New York. In. view of the fact that they could not be present at these hearings, they resorted to the only other means available to them in protesting against these unfavorable antilabor bills, which infringe upon their constitutional rights as America citizens, namely by a cablegram to the President worded as follows: "The S. S. President Harding vigorously protests antilabor legislation known as the Copeland bill, S. 3078, and the Schuyler Bland bill, H. R. 8532.

(Signed) CREW."

The captain, James E. Roberts, censored this cable, thereby taking away their only means of informing the President of their objections to these bills. •

The only reason he gave was that it would put him in a bad light with the company, therefore we the 185 undersigned American citizens vigorously protest the dictatorial stand of the master, James E. Roberts, in removing the right granted to us by the Constitution of these United States to protest unfavorable legislation. That is signed with 185 signatures of members of the crew. The CHAIRMAN. They had read the bill?

Mr. EMERSON. They had read the proposed draft of the bill.